Douglas Gerald Mac Neil

"Mac"

1st Lieutenant - Dustoff 163

Killed In Action 07 April, 1970

32 Years Old, Single, Born May 30, 1937

From Queens Village, New York.

Length Of  Service 3 Years.

His Tour Of Duty Began On June 04, 1968

Casualty Was On April 07, 1970 In Tay Ninh, South Vietnam

Hostile Action, Small Arms Fire.

Panel 12W - Line 104

"Greater Love Hath No Man Than To Lay Down His Life For His Brother"

Mac's Last Flight

By A Crewmember That Day (Name Respectfully Withheld)

"Dustoff 163, this is Tay Ninh Dustoff, over".  The Tay Ninh standby crew was busy that day.  Two operations were in progress northeast of Tay Ninh, and the 35th Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division ran into two North Vietnamese Regiments in the Renegade  Woods near the Angel's Wing.

Dustoff 163. 1LT Doug MacNeil was the aircraft commander.  The medic was PFC Ed Iannuccilli, the crew chief was SP/4 Mark McKinna, and WO1 Ted Howard was the co-pilot.  We had evacuated some wounded from the operations northeast of Tay Ninh to the 45th MAST Hospital at Tay Ninh base camp.  We were refueling at the airstrip when we received the request for an urgent US wounded in the Straitedge Woods.  We stopped the refueling and proceeded to the area.  When we arrived, the pickup site was under intense enemy fire.  As the gunships engaged the enemy, Dustoff 163 circled a few miles to the west, on the edge of the Cambodian border, monitoring the battle on the radio.

After circling for several minutes (precious minutes to the patient), Dustoff 163 made the decision to make the pickup.  Doug flew low-level and fast towards the site, and announced over the radio to the gunships and the ground troops that he was approaching from the west.  After spotting the pickup point, he decelerated with a side flare.  As he was keeping eye contact with the landing point, the enemy opened fire from the woods with a heavy machine gun and small arms fire.  The aircraft took many hits and sustained severe damage.

The initial burst of fire hit the engine and the crew.  The aircraft, still in a side-flare, crashed from about 15 feet above the ground.  Lt. MacNeil was killed instantly with several bullets to his chest.  WO1 Howard was hit in both legs and his feet were knocked from the controls.  SP/4 McKinna was hit seconds later in the hip and leg.  The medic was unhurt by enemy fire or by the crash.  The medic and crew chief were able to exit the aircraft immediately.  The co-pilot escaped later with the help of the medic who had crawled back to the burning aircraft and broke out the front window.  They were not able to recover Doug MacNeil from the aircraft which was now fully consumed by fire.

The gunships were reinforced and were able to intensify the fire on the enemy forces.  The crew was rescued by another aircraft in the area, and were flown back to the 45th Hospital in Tay Ninh.  The urgent patient they had been called for died of his wounds.